I did a bit of research along the lines of this article a few months ago to settle an argument, specifically about the state of Iowa in the US, about just corn for ethanol production (the primary source of ethanol in the US). I made a few assumptions, but always took the more generous middle ground for ethanol.

First its astounding how much land we dedicate to crops there, its 68% of the state for all crops, with 94% of that being feed corn and soy beans. That’s 22.6 million acres (91,300 km²) dedicated to two crops we largely do not eat.

Second and more on topic, the state of Iowa net produces about 56,389 GWh/yr from ethanol taking up 4.5 million acres (18,212 km²), and it would only take 28,000 acres (113 km²) of solar to produce the same amount.

I like haven’t done the math on this one, but I bet you could make that up from solar on walmart roofs and parking lots in Iowa alone. Maybe that’ll be my tomorrow project.

I like to hope we scale EVs down in size and weight and ramp up train/trolley/trolley busses to reduce required energy to power transportation, then we wouldn’t need to cover Poland with panels!